Craft Recordings celebrates the 21st anniversary of Thursday’s seminal sophomore album, Full Collapse, with a limited-edition 10-inch vinyl collection. A highly-influential title in the post-hardcore scene, 2001’s Full Collapse was the band’s breakout album, thanks in large part to the popularity of singles “Understanding in a Car Crash” and “Cross Out the Eyes.” Now, fans have the opportunity to revisit the genre-defining album in a new light.
Set for release on October 28th and available for pre-order today, the anniversary box set (limited to 5,000 copies worldwide) presents the entire album across three 10-inch LPs. Designed by MDRN DVSN and Thursday, in collaboration with Craft, the reissue is housed in a unique hardcover book and features a collection of never-before-seen photos of the band, captured by photographer Nathaniel Shannon between 2001-2002. Shannon, who has worked closely with Thursday throughout their career, as well as with Rolling Stone, the BBC, Vice, and Alternative Press, among many others, also includes a personal introduction.
Alongside the reissue, Thursday will be on tour throughout the US tour through November 2022, including a selection of shows centered around Full Collapse (see below). The band will also join their longtime friends, collaborators, and fellow New Jersey natives, My Chemical Romance, on the road this fall. Limited copies of the boxset will be available to purchase at the bands live shows ahead of the official street date for the release.
When Thursday signed to Victory Records in 2001, they could never have imagined just how impactful their career would be. The New Brunswick, NJ band was formed four years earlier by Rutgers University students Geoff Rickly (vocals), Tom Keeley (lead guitar), Bill Henderson (rhythm guitar), Tim Payne (bass), and Tucker Rule (drums). Over the next year, the group would build a grassroots fanbase by playing shows in basements across the Tri-State area, sharing the stage with other local acts in the scene, including Saves the Day and Midtown. In 1999, they worked with producer Sal Villanueva to produce their debut album, Waiting (Eyeball Records).
After catching the ears of Victory, the band (cemented by Steve Pedulla on rhythm guitar) reunited with Villanueva at Big Blue Meanie studios to record their sophomore album. In contrast to Waiting, Full Collapse found the band settling into a more collaborative process with their songwriting, while they invited their production team (including Villanueva and engineers Erin Farley and Tim Gilles) plus friends from other bands (Joe Darone of The Rosenbergs, Tom Schlatter of The Assistant, Frank Giokas of Unsound) to contribute in the studio.
Lyrically, the band tackled a range of subjects in their songs—from the deeply personal (“Understanding in a Car Crash,” which found Rickly coming to terms with the death of his girlfriend) to commentary on modern life (“A0001,” inspired by the rise of computer and internet culture). The band also delved into socio-political issues, particularly in songs like “Autobiography of a Nation,” in which they spoke to the hypocrisy of the American Dream. “We have burned their villages and all the people in them died/And we adopt their customs and everything they say we steal/All the dreams they had we kill/Still we all sleep sound tonight,” Rickly sings. “Paris in Flames,” meanwhile, was written about LGBTQ rights and activism.
In a 2014 interview with Vice, Rickly revealed that the album “just had a lot of hurt and heartbreak that was built up, and Full Collapse was about letting it go and talking about it…Every time I played those songs it was like therapy for me.” But, while many of the subjects were difficult to revisit, Rickly’s feelings towards the album—and that moment in time—were overwhelmingly positive. “I really love that record,” he continued. “Full Collapse is totally innocent, and that’s why I think it’s beautiful. Just a bunch of kids pouring all their heart and dreams into one big record…. I hear a really hopeful person who means every word he says.”
In the months leading up to, and following, Full Collapse’s release in April 2001, the band members devoted themselves to touring. Thanks to nationwide runs with bands like Boy Sets Fire, Sparta, and Saves The Day, Thursday quickly became a household name, while Full Collapse was a must-have album. Not long after its release, Full Collapse entered the Billboard 200 and landed in the Top 10 of both the Heatseekers Albums and the Independent Albums charts. By the following year, Thursday was playing the mainstage at Warped Tour, while the video for “Understanding a Car Crash” had regular rotation on MTV2 and Fuse.
Although Full Collapse initially caught the attention and admiration of the press, the album’s critical legacy has only intensified over the years, while it has appeared on numerous best-of lists, including those by Rolling Stone (“40 Greatest Emo Albums of All Time”); NME (“20 Emo Albums That Have Resolutely Stood the Test of Time”); Consequence of Sound (“10 Emo Albums Every Music Fan Should Own”); and Kerrang! (“The 25 Greatest Emo Albums Ever”). On a broader level, Full Collapse also had a strong hand in shaping the musical landscape of the early aughts, paving the way for countless post-hardcore and emo bands to find mainstream traction, while inspiring such acts as My Chemical Romance, As Cities Burn, and Senses Fail.
In the 21 years since the release of Full Collapse, Thursday has released four more albums, including the US Top 10 War All the Time (2003; Island) and the US Top 20 A City by the Light Divided (2006; Island). While the band announced a hiatus in 2011, following the release of the broadly-acclaimed No Devolución (Epitaph), Rickly, Keely, Payne, Rule, and Pedulla have since reunited, enjoying multiple sold-out tours and a highly-anticipated appearance at last year’s Riot Fest.
Thursday would like to dedicate this release to the memory of Tim Gilles.
“It’s really an honor to see Full Collapse get the deluxe box set treatment for its 20th anniversary. We’ve worked hard to make sure this little package captures the feeling of those unforgettable days.”- Thursday.
